This invention relates generally to cutting apparatus and more particularly to manually-operated cutting apparatus for making circular and circular arc-like cuts in sheets of flexible or semi-rigid material such as paper, cloth, leather, plastic, rubber, and like materials.
The prior art teaches several relatively complex cutting apparatus for making circular or circular are-like cuts but does not teach a simple manually-operable, low cost, easy to maintain apparatus for accurately making circular arc-like cuts at preselected depths and preselected cut radii.
It is often difficult to adjust the radius and the depth of the cut in prior art devices and the speed of making the cut is not always variable. The prior art often requires relatively complex mechanisms for securing the sheet of material while the cut is being made, and some of the systems utilize rather complex alignment mechanisms or indexing schemes to insure that the cut is made at the proper location on the sheet of material. All of these complexities increase of the cost of the cutting apparatus and the resulting product and tend to decrease the efficiency of the production operation.
The present invention solves all of the problems of the prior art with a simple, low cost, easy to maintain, manually-operable cutting apparatus wherein the depth of the cut, its radius, the alignment or indexing of the center of curvature of the cut and the closure and pressure of the clamping means can be accurately and easily adjusted by the operator.